Mike Tyson “Loved” Dancing in the Tonys’ Opening Number, Cyndi Lauper Fell Asleep at the After-Party, and Other Revelations from Broadway’s Big Night

Before Sunday night’s Tony Awards, we surveyed the stars on the red carpet to see which ones were getting stage fright and which ones were feeling lucky. Nominee Richard Kind admitted he was kind of nervous. “Never been to the Tonys,” he admitted. Kind brought his daughter, but he wasn’t sure that would help his chances. “That’s not necessarily lucky,” he quipped, looking at her. “That’s just a money pit.”

Judith Light, who won last year and last night, is now an old hand; this was her third nomination in as many years. For luck, she carried her grandmother’s handbag. “And in the play that I’m doing, The Assembled Parties, Lauren Blumenfeld put in my dressing room a lucky rock, and I put that in my handbag tonight,” Light told VF Daily at Radio City Music Hall before the show.

Although it turns out we didn’t: in the biggest surprise of the night, Tom Hanks did not win that category, and the prize went to Tracy Letts for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. “I won! That’s what went through my mind,” Letts told VF Daily at the post-awards gala at the Plaza Hotel. “It was an exciting moment,” he added. “You know, all those guys are great. I wouldn’t have been surprised by anything that happened.”

The Tonys gala, after the awards show, is a massive and lavish party, with buffets, a packed dance floor, and many, many bars taking over the hotel’s entire ground floor. Downstairs, the Plaza’s excellent food court was open, with everything from oysters to sliders to sushi to macarons on offer. Anna Kendrick waited patiently in line for the lobster rolls. Megan Hilty sat at a table chatting with a friend. Debra Messing and Will Chase walked hand-in-hand. Jesse Tyler Ferguson made the rounds, and Cecily Tyson was a big draw, posing for endless photos with partygoers. Mike Tyson said he rehearsed “all day” and “loved” dancing in the opening number.

“It was a tight race,” said Kinky Boots producer Daryl Roth. She was holding her Tony statuette and talking about her show’s competition with the other perceived frontrunner, Matilda. “I felt so happy, and very honored that the Tony voters made a change of thought,” Roth said. “I really do think that happened, as they came to see the show, and they loved the show.”

Uptown, O&M’s after-after party at the Carlyle went late. It was only half full when VF Daily rolled in, around 1:30 a.m. Patti Lupone was there by that time. “I was surprised at some awards, but I’m not going to tell you which ones,” she teased. But she had a strong opinion on the musical category: “I’m Team Kinky Boots. I was thrilled!” Lupone said, laughing.

Darren Criss wandered in later. This was his first time at the Tonys. “They don’t let TV people come to these things, you know?” the Gleestar said. (He must have missed the musical number sung by Hilty, Laura Benanti, and Andrew Rannells about exactly this subject during the telecast.) His friends Justin Paul and Benj Pasek were nominated, and Criss actually purchased tickets as a show of support.

Criss declined to name favorites. “I’m the worst critic. I go to the theater and end up just loving everything,” he said. “And the fact that theater is still somewhat relevant to the American consciousness, that there is the Tonys, I go, ‘Yay, everybody!’”

The party was in a very posh two-bedroom suite, like something you’d see in a movie, complete with grand piano in the living room, and we asked Criss if he planned on tickling the ivories. “It’s looking good,” he laughed, holding up his glass of champagne. “No, not at a Broadway party. That’s where you look bad. If we were in Hollywood, I might be O.K., but not when you’re in New York at the Carlyle. You’d be booed immediately.”

By 3 a.m., the place was so packed that a second, impromptu party had broken out at Bemelemans Bar in the hotel’s lobby. Scarlett Johansson was there, the Kinky Boots folks had come from their own party, and Cyndi Lauper was literally dozing on someone’s shoulder, clutching her Tony statuette.

“Thank you, Jesus!” was Billy Porter’s first thought when he heard his name as best actor in a musical. He said he did plan out his delightful acceptance speech. “I didn’t want to be caught with my drawers down,” he laughed.

As the night—morning—wore on, people gravitated back upstairs to the suite on the 21st floor. ScarJo was now up there, along with her fellow non-nominee Alan Cumming, Stark Sands, and Zachary Quinto.

We bumped into Richard Kind again, who said he enjoyed his first Tony ceremony—although it was long. “I was near Tom Hanks, and when Cicely Tyson did her thing, he grabbed my hand and said, ‘We have 40 years,’” Kind said, laughing.

Looking around, he said, “This is the gayest party I’ve ever been to,” thereby confirming that, indeed, he really had never before attended the Tony Awards.